


Unicorns

by ScrollingKingfisher



Series: Gabriel Monthly Challenges [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Camping, Human AU, M/M, Unicorns, mythical creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 12:58:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8209406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScrollingKingfisher/pseuds/ScrollingKingfisher
Summary: “No one said you’re crazy. We’re all just… Planning on whispering it to each other later.”
On the last camping trip of the year, Sam finds something deep in the woods. No one believes him, including Gabriel, because it's stupid, isn't it? Unicorns aren't real.
Are they?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the September entry of the Gabriel Monthly Challenge on tumblr! The prompt was “No one said you’re crazy. We’re all just… Planning on whispering it to each other later.”

 

 

 

   It was the last camp of the season, and the weather was surprisingly mild for September. The leaves had started to change, but it wasn’t frosty in the mornings yet, and the sun was shining when they set out. Sam and Gabriel, along with Charlie and Ash and Kevin, had been planning the trip all summer, and in the end Dean and his boyfriend Cas had decided to come along as well, so all of them squeezed themselves into Dean’s impala and Charlie’s beaten-up mini and headed for the nearest national park.

 

   They trekked off the beaten path, far enough that they were unlikely to run into anyone, before they set up camp. Gabriel was wheezing by the time they got to the clearing, and as soon as they stopped he dropped his pack and flopped onto his back, limbs spread like a starfish. Sam loomed over him, looking down with amusement.

 

   “Don’t just stand there Sammy, help me! Casualty! Man down! Quick, I need the kiss of life!”

 

   “I think you’ll survive,” Sam commented dryly, but he grinned and dropped his pack too and sat down next to him, breathing in the warm grass and the rich woodland loam.

 

   Gabriel slapped a hand over his heart. “You wound me, Winchester.”

 

   “I’ll wound you if you two don’t help set up camp,” Kevin called to them irritably from the other side of the clearing. Sam stood again with a sigh and offered him a hand up.

 

   “Come on, we can set up our tent before Kevin tries to calculate the optimal distance from the fire.”

 

   But it was too late; Kevin was already stalking around the clearing like an agitated bowerbird whose nest kept being disturbed by nosy scientists.

 

   “No, Ash, we can’t camp there, the ground’s too stony, it’ll be like sleeping on a bed of nails. And you two,” He turned to Dean and Cas and eyed them dubiously. “You two camp over there. Like, _way_ over there. I don’t wanna hear anything in the middle of the night.”

 

   Dean straightened from where he had been pulling the tent out of his pack and scowled. “Hey! Just because we’re boyfriends doesn’t mean we’re gonna do anything!”

 

   Cas stepped in and put a calming hand on his shoulder. “I can assure you, Dean and I will not have intercourse while in camp. Just don’t follow us if you notice us wandering off into the woods together.”

 

   Gabriel grinned at Kevin’s loud noises of disgust, watching as his cousin’s mouth turned up into a tiny smirk. Cas’ humour might have been subtle, but it was undoubtedly effective.

 

   Charlie quickly managed to distract everyone before a real argument could break out, and before they knew it Kevin and Ash had been sent off into the woods for fuel, Dean and Cas were collecting water, Sam and Gabriel were trying to figure out the firelighters and somehow Charlie was lying propped up against several pillows and a log, reading her book. Well, at least they’d have camp set up before it got dark.

 

   By the time night fell they had a roaring campfire going, and hotdogs sizzled on sharpened sticks over the flames. Gabriel and Sam sat together next to Ash, watching in amusement as Dean devoured his tenth hotdog under Cas’ intense gaze.

 

   Dean looked up and nodded to the slightly charred sausage on Gabriel’s stick.

 

   “You gonna eat that?”

 

   Gabriel pretended to consider for a second, then yanked it back across the fire. “I’d give it to you, but I like sausages too much. I appreciate a nice sausage.” He waggled his eyebrows at Dean across the circle, taking a suggestive bite.

 

   Dean grimaced, then smirked. “If you think that’s what you do, I have some news for you about your technique.”

 

   They all laughed, and Charlie demanded they pass the ketchup. Gabriel leaned back against the log, absolutely stuffed. Sam shifted a little next to him, then picked up the torch.

 

   “I’ll be back in a minute.”

 

   Gabriel watched as Sam levered himself to his feet, wobbly as a newborn giraffe, and stumbled off into the woods, torch flicking on as he reached the treeline. Then Dean lobbed a pinecone at him from across the fire and, of course, he had no choice but to retaliate, so pinecone war was being waged by the time Sam burst back into the clearing.

 

   Gabriel frowned when he saw Sam’s wide-eyed expression, lowering his projectile only to have one clock him on the forehead.

 

   “Ow!”

 

   “Oh my god!” Sam was panting, his face flushed and oversized limbs gesticulating wildly as though words just weren’t enough to express what he was trying to say. “I saw it! In the woods! Right in front of me!”

 

   “Slow down there, Samsquatch. What did you see?” The rest of them had finally stopped lobbing pinecones for long enough to notice that something was wrong and were watching them across the fire.

 

   “It was…” Sam paused, glancing around at them all, suddenly less sure of himself, “I think it was a unicorn.”

 

   There was a beat where the only sound was the fire crackling, then Dean snorted with laughter. “A unicorn? Yeah, okay Sammy. You been smoking that oregano again?”

 

   Sam turned humiliated red in the light of the flames. “I’m not joking! It was really there!”

 

   “Sam, dude, you do know that unicorns… aren’t real, don’t you?” Ash put in, grinning.

 

   Sam scowled at them all in turn. “I’m not crazy!”

 

   “No one said you’re crazy. We’re all just… Planning on whispering it to each other later.” Gabriel grinned impishly, and Charlie suppressed a giggle. Sam huffed angrily and picked up his book, his movements jerky and stilted.

 

   “I’m going to bed.”

 

   “Aw, Sammich, don’t do now! We’re gonna make s’mores!” Gabriel called after him.

 

   “Goodnight Gabriel,” he shouted over his shoulder, then pushed the tent flap aside and vanished.

 

   Dean huffed. “Wow, what a joker. He’s totally pulling our legs, he’ll be out in a minute. Nobody fall for it, he’s trying to get us all wandering through the woods looking for make-believe animals.”

 

   But Sam didn’t come back to the fire, and the longer Sam was gone, the more Gabriel wondered. He frowned to himself. He knew Sam well, and growing up with Dean meant he could prank as well as the next person. But this didn’t seem like his kind of trick; Gabriel could spin a story like that maybe, but Sam wasn’t that good an actor. He had seemed serious.

 

   Maybe he _had_ seen something out there? Not a unicorn, obviously, but maybe an albino deer? A moose? That was possible. And it would be kind of cool to see if it was still hanging around, mythological or not.

 

   He was still mulling it over as they finished their s’mores and started wandering off to their tents, sleepy goodnights drifting over the camp. Gabriel crawled through the tent flap, the outline of a lump in the blankets just visible in the near-darkness.

 

   “Sam?” He whispered.

 

   “Go away,” the bundle of blankets grumbled back, an eye peeking out to glare balefully at him.

 

   “Sam, I believe you.”

 

   Sam sighed and pushed the blankets off. “Look, if you’re just gonna make fun of-”

 

   Gabriel held out his hand to stall him. “No, Sam, I really believe you. I want to see.”

 

   Even in the dark, Gabriel could see the shadows of Sam’s brows rise in surprise.

 

   “You do?”

 

   “Hells yeah! Let’s go!”

 

   Sam paused, obviously aware of the darkening camp. “I’m not sure…”

 

   “Oh come on Sammy, where’s your sense of adventure? We’ll take the torches and a radio and everything.”

 

   Quietly, they shuffled out of the tent, Sam a looming shadow set against the stars. As soon as they reached the trees Sam flicked the light on and beckoned Gabriel forwards, his enthusiastic anticipation vibrating out of him now that someone was taking him seriously and Gabriel smiled softly at his back as he bounded off into the trees. Even if it was just an albino moose, this would be totally worth it just for Sam’s enthusiasm.

 

   They seemed to walk for ages, and Gabriel was getting tired by the time Sam stopped abruptly.

 

   “You walked all the way out here to take a leak? I know you like your privacy Samson, but-”

 

   A large palm slapped over his mouth and an instant later the torch snapped off. The darkness was immediate and absolute, not even the light of stars making it through the dense trees. Gabriel made a muffled complaint around the hand and was contemplating what Sam would do if he licked him when Sam whispered, “There!”

 

   And there it was; pearly white, so white it glowed, just visible in the gloom and through the trees. A twig snapped under its hoof as it wandered towards them, picking its way across the forest floor, and rubbed its great spiral horn against a branch. It didn’t seem scared of them, observing them where they stood frozen with great liquid-brown eyes, then turning away to snuffle at the ground.

 

   Sam’s hand fell away from Gabriel’s gaping mouth as he breathed a sound of amazement. “Wow…”

 

   He snapped out of his daze when Sam stepped forwards.

 

   “Sam! Wait! What’re you-”

 

   But Sam kept going, moving forwards. Gabriel’s heart was beating hard in his chest as he watched intently, not daring to go any closer. They didn’t know if it was friendly or not, it could gore him in a second, it would kebob him on its horn and Gabriel would have to make up some stupid story about Sam falling on a stick because no one would believe that they’d stumbled on an _actual unicorn_ -

 

   Sam reached into his pocket, drawing out- was that an apple?- and the enormous glowing creature took a step forwards and gently lipped it off his palm, mouthing him and snorting as he petted its nose. Sam turned back, beaming.

 

   “I think you can touch him now, Gabriel, he likes me. Come on!”

 

   Gabriel took a step forwards, then another. Before he knew it he was standing a meter away ( _just about skewering distance_ , his treacherous brain supplied).

 

   “I’m… not really a horse person…”

 

   Sam made an impatient noise and grabbed his hand, pulling him forward the last few feet and laying it on the creature’s muzzle.

 

   It was soft. Softer than velvet, softer than silk, but solid and warm and alive as well.

 

   Gabriel stroked along the smoothness of its skin and looked up at Sam, seeing the wonder and amazement reflected there as they stood in the woods at night, petting a mythical creature.

 

   “I guess you really did find one, then? Well, you know what they say about unicorns and virgins,” Gabriel said, trying to cover the leftover shakiness in his voice as he stroked its neck. “It loves you, I‘m amazed it’ll go anywhere near me.”

 

   “It’s just as well we found it _this_ trip then, isn’t it?” Sam muttered to himself as the unicorn sniffed his pockets.

 

   Wait, what? “Huh?”

 

   Sam took a deep breath, eyes fixed determinedly on the spiral horn. “We could catch a film, when we get back. If you wanted to.”

 

   It took a few seconds, but then he got it. “Sam, are you asking me out on a date?”

 

   Sam peeked out from under his bangs, suddenly shy. “Maybe?”

 

   Gabriel couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. “Yes! As long as it’s not a nature documentary.”

 

   Sam grinned back at him as the unicorn turned and walked away, flicking its tail as it melted back into the forest. “Fine, not a documentary.”

 

   They probably wouldn’t see the unicorn again, but that was okay. They had more important things to think about.

 


End file.
